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Old 11-20-2010, 01:22 AM   #1
Dangerious P. Cats
 
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Default Ship warfare before cannons

How can naval warfare be conducted without cannons at Tech levels 0-3 (maybe 4 even) outside of boarding actions?
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Old 11-20-2010, 01:26 AM   #2
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Default Re: Ship warfare before cannons

The mediterranean did see a lot of ramming action pre gunpowder. Also ballistas, scorpios and catapults with greek fire where the tools of choice.
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Old 11-20-2010, 01:47 AM   #3
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Default Re: Ship warfare before cannons

Archers and crossbows as well. More importantly, why would you want to conduct naval warfare without boarding actions? If you're badly outnumbered you might want to take out some of the opposition by using Greek fire or fire-arrows on their sails, but basically ships (and their cargoes, and their crews) are valuable.

If you can board and take a ship at Tech 0-3, you not only get a nice "new" warship to add to your fleet, but you can grab their sailors to sell or use as slaves. (OK - GURPS doesn't have much on slavery because of modern morality, but it was a firm fixture in economic life in most societies at those tech levels. Especially if the ships concerned are galleys...)
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Old 11-20-2010, 02:09 AM   #4
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Default Re: Ship warfare before cannons

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Originally Posted by Dangerious P. Cats View Post
How can naval warfare be conducted without cannons at Tech levels 0-3 (maybe 4 even) outside of boarding actions?
Ramming. But the ramming was generally a prelude to dropping the ramps and boarding..... Even after cannon, boarding remained a viable tactic until the ironclads.

There was a certain amount of using catapults w/pots of greek fire to try to set enemy ships aflame, but this was unreliable and dangerous.
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Old 11-20-2010, 07:28 AM   #5
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Default Re: Ship warfare before cannons

Catapults and other heavy stone throwers were rarely carried - only the largest ships could safely mount them topside and these big ships tended to be clumsy and slow, sitting ducks for nimble light galleys with rams. Greek fire was a close range weapon and, historically, only one side ever had it (the Byzantines). What a battle would look like where both sides had this potentially devastating weapon is up to the imagination, but it would be pretty horrific. All in all, a fleet would stick to ramming (for better trained crews) or boarding, with archery and light bolt throwers supporting the main action.
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Old 11-20-2010, 07:45 AM   #6
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Originally Posted by Christian View Post
The mediterranean did see a lot of ramming action pre gunpowder. Also ballistas, scorpios and catapults with greek fire where the tools of choice.
It should be noted that only lightly built galleys were ever likley to be sunk by ramming. By the time you approach the european seasoned timber sailing ship being rammed by a galley won't stave in the sides. Ramming was a smple way to set up boarding.

Either yoiu're trying to capture the target ship by boarding or you're trying to escape it or drive it off with fire arrows. The masts and sails were particularly vulnerable to catching on fire.
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Old 11-20-2010, 07:52 AM   #7
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Default Re: Ship warfare before cannons

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Originally Posted by rosignol View Post
Even after cannon, boarding remained a viable tactic until the ironclads.
Yes, very true. I am not certain about the numbers, but I believe at least something like 90% of ships defeated during the age of sail and cannon were boarded, or had their sails damaged beyond being useful. Less than 1 in 10 ships were actually sunk. This includued ships having long time running gunner battles lasting hours.

Boarding is the top way of stopping the enemy, and disabling the sails number two, and would remain so until the mid to late 1800's.
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Old 11-20-2010, 08:08 AM   #8
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Default Re: Ship warfare before cannons

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Originally Posted by Dangerious P. Cats View Post
How can naval warfare be conducted without cannons at Tech levels 0-3 (maybe 4 even) outside of boarding actions?
Covered in detail in Low-Tech Companion 2, actually.

Brief summary: Attacking a warship is effectively the same as attacking a fortified building and uses the same tools: the ram, the catapult, the ladder or tower, the incendiary, and eventually the petard. About the only thing you can't do is undermining!

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Old 11-20-2010, 08:35 AM   #9
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Default Re: Ship warfare before cannons

If you're a really big ship the thing to do is get one of those cranes from Fantasy Tech.
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Old 11-20-2010, 08:52 AM   #10
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Default Re: Ship warfare before cannons

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Originally Posted by Fred Brackin View Post
It should be noted that only lightly built galleys were ever likley to be sunk by ramming. By the time you approach the european seasoned timber sailing ship being rammed by a galley won't stave in the sides. Ramming was a simple way to set up boarding.
Only true if the targets are too tough to sink by ramming, or the rammers strike prow to prow. The ancient Athenian and Rhodian navies made a specialty of ramming their enemies in the sides or rear, or shearing their oars, and leaving them to sink. Fleets with heavier ships or less skilled crews preferred to ram prow to prow and then board.

To confuse matters, in some periods (eg. the 16th century Mediterranean) 'rams' were basically reinforced boarding bridges designed to impact at deck level, not below the waterline. This confuses students of one period who glance at the other.

I would also add that the 'heavier hull designs are too tough to ram' theory is speculative (except for possibly some incidents in the 15th century and later). In the case of ancient ships, we know waterline rams fell out of use around the time that a new tradition of hull construction took over, but I don't recall contemporary statements or modern experiments proving a link.

Some warships have had good-sized torsion engines or trebuchets onboard. The ancient world has incidents of shooting heavy stones: one luxury roundship carried engines to shoot 12 cubit darts or 80 kg stones, and there are several incidents of shooting jars of pitch or noxious creatures.
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